COMMERCE CITY — As Rapids "4thFest" celebrations go, the fireworks show was great, but the game was kind of a dud.

Colorado took a 1-0 lead early in the second half Friday against the Columbus Crew but gave up a late equalizer caused by a bad turnover in midfield by Dillon Powers to settle for a 1-1 draw. The dissatisfying result in front of a standing-room-only crowd of 18,432 gave Colorado a 7-5-5 record at the midpoint of their 34-game schedule and a 12-3-3 record all time on the Fourth of July.

"They caused us some problems," said Rapids goalkeeper Clint Irwin, who was brilliant at times. "We were on top of the game for a little bit, and we just made a mistake and they capitalized on it. We weren't passing and keeping the ball very well. That caused us a lot of problems.

"They're a good passing team, and they did it a lot better than us tonight."

In fact, the Crew ranks No. 1 in passing accuracy (76.5) in MLS and No. 2 in possession percentage (56.4), but the Rapids had a decisive edge in the first half (58-42). Vicente Sanchez, dangerous every time he touches the ball, had some great chances including a run on the left wing with a shot that was saved by Columbus goalkeeper Steve Clark in the second minute.

Colorado had other good chances, including one in the 40th minute when Kamani Hill got wide open in the left side of the penalty area but Deshorn Brown was busy controlling the ball in the box and didn't see him.

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Columbus had the run of play early in the second half. Hinting at things to come, Crew forward Jairo Arrieta found the net on a counterattack in the 55th minute but the goal was disallowed for offside.

Four minutes later, Sanchez appeared to score on a header off a cross by Marvell Wynne, but the ball glanced off the head of Columbus defender Eric Gehrig and was ruled an own goal that gave Colorado a 1-0 lead.

The pace grew frantic with Columbus pressing forward to equalize and the Rapids springing into counterattacks.

Crew midfielder Tony Tchiani had a dangerous header off a corner kick that forced a save by Irwin in the 69th minute, but the Rapids were playing with fire, and in the 76th minute Ethan Finlay equalized after Powers gave the ball away in an apparent attempt to pass the ball in the direction of defender Drew Moor. Finlay's goal ended a 257-minute scoring drought for the visitors.

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